


Of Sacrifice and Snuggles

by SabbyStarlight



Series: Cold Open Challenge 2020! [4]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Cold Open Challenge, Episode: s02e03 Roulette Wheel + Wire, Gen, Hypothermic snuggles, Less of a tag, More of a missing scene, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25172179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SabbyStarlight/pseuds/SabbyStarlight
Summary: Day four of the Cold Open Challenge!2x03 Roulette Wheel+WireA missing scene for an open with so much potential.
Series: Cold Open Challenge 2020! [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818619
Comments: 14
Kudos: 52





	Of Sacrifice and Snuggles

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of those intros/episode moments that I don't like to remember. I was so disappointed with how the entire situation was handled because it had SO MUCH potential. If I had the time, I would rewrite the entire bit in an attempt to remedy some of their wrongdoings. But that's a project for another day. This, is a quick little addition, filling in a missing moment and trying to at least add something in character to what was a mess of a scene that could have been wonderful.

"You know, by the time night rolls around in this place," Jack paused to breathe a huff of air, not nearly as warm as it should have been, down into his gloves, trying to warm his fingers. It wasn't as effective as he had hoped. "You start wonderin' just why we were complaining about it being cold earlier in the day. It was practically a sauna compared to this."

"I wouldn't go that far," Mac smiled. "It was well below zero even when the sun was at its strongest."

"This is downright inhumane," Jack continued, keeping a steady stream of pointless ramblings going, giving Mac something familiar to latch onto as he fumbled with cold, numb hands of his own, to rig up some form of heat source out of the parts from the snowmobile's exhaust system. "Don't know what we did to deserve bein' sent out here but Matty owes us big time for agreeing to this one."

"It's not like she was punishing us, we were on a mission. That's kinda our job."

"Yeah, yeah, we do all the crazy stuff everyone else is smart enough to say no to." The device Mac was working on hummed to life for a brief moment, just long enough to produce the tiniest spark of hope, before sputtering back to silence once more. Jack continued, not giving Mac the time to get a frustrated word in. "Either way, job or not, she owes us some serious vacation days after this or something. Man, I would kill for a beach day right now, couldn't you?"

“You hate the beach,” Mac reminded, biting his lip as he tried to tighten one of the bolts without taking his gloves off. “Too much open space so there's no way to keep an eye on threats coming and going, you’re terrified of jellyfish, and you always claim to end up with sand in places there shouldn’t ever be sand.”

“Yeah, well,” Jack gave himself a mental pat on the back as Mac adjusted the pieces into place without getting frustrated with them since he had been given something else to think about. “Those are all valid reasons. If not the ocean, then she owes us a lake day. Some private little place nobody knows about but us. No weird creatures floating around, unless you count the occasional crawfish scamperin’ his way back to his home. A picnic lunch and a rope swing hangin’ off a shade tree...”

“You realize you just described your ‘super top secret’ swimming hole back at the ranch, right?” Mac asked. “Asking for a few days off if we make it out of here, I mean _when_ ,” he corrected upon catching Jack’s warning glare. “Is one thing but she’s not going to give us an all-expense-paid trip to go visit your family just cause we’re a little miserable at the moment.”

“We deserve it after this one, dude,” Jack looked around the little snow cave they had built while they still had plenty of daylight. There wasn’t much room to move around inside, but that had been intentional. The less space they had the less heat it would take to keep it tolerably warm inside. There was a pile of plant scraps Mac had gathered earlier in one corner and the seats from the snowmobiles had been pried off and positioned on the snow-packed ground as a makeshift bed as far away from the drafty entrance as possible. It wouldn't do them any good though unless they had some form of heat. It was too cold to risk falling asleep.

"I think," Mac's eyebrows drew together in a frown as he adjusted the base holding the pull cord in place. "This should do it…" A tug of the handle and a silent prayer and the heater sprung to life with a low hum. They waited a moment, neither willing to break the spell. Hesitantly, Mac leaned forward, holding a gloved hand out again the vent. "It's not much," he sighed, pulling his glove off with his teeth and biting at the burning cold. "I was hoping the seat warming mechanism would be stronger, but it's better than nothing."

"It's perfect, kid" Jack assured, reaching over to clap Mac on the shoulder as Mac slid his glove back on. "You did great. Saved our bacon once again. But uh," He looked over the contraption Mac had pieced together, pieces of motors and gears, stripped wires visible throughout. "Is it safe? I mean, the risk of us freezin' our bits off ain't an appealing one, so I'll take a fire hazard over that any day but..."

"Not really," Mac admitted with a defeated sigh. "But it's as safe as I can get it with what I have on hand."

"Then we'll have to call it good enough," Jack nodded.

"Next step is getting a radio up and running," Mac sent a dejected glance at the pile of leftover parts and scraps of equipment. "Out of that."

"That'll be tomorrow's problem," Jack nudged him away from the awaiting project, watching the wheels already begin to turn behind Mac's eyes. "You're exhausted, buddy. And we're usin' up way more calories than we're taking in which means we can't afford to skimp on the rest. That mind of yours is the best tool we've got. Gotta take care of it."

"I can sleep when the radio is finished," Mac protested, even as he followed Jack's guiding hand towards their improvised sleeping quarters.

"Or you can sleep now," Jack argued, crawling around Mac and positioning himself on the mat closest to the ice wall, giving Mac no option but to settle down closest to the heater. "And tackle that problem with fresh eyes. You've done enough for today, kid. It ain't gonna do anyone no good if you go and get us a way home and drive yourself into the ground before help can even make it out to us."

“Should probably stay up and keep an eye on that,” Mac nodded towards the heater. “It really isn’t very stable. Just in case.”

“You lay down and get some sleep, I’ll take first watch,” Jack assured, laying down himself, despite having no actual intentions of falling asleep, and hoping Mac would follow his lead.

“You should rest too though,” Mac protested, wincing as he felt the bitter cold rising up from the ground, despite the layers between him and the actual earth.

“I’ll wake you up when I get tired,” Jack assured. “Go to sleep. Dream of somewhere warm.”

Mac tried to do just that, but after a solid ten minutes of tossing and turning on the lumpy seat beneath him, all the layers he was wrapped in twisting uncomfortably around him while still not managing to keep him warm, he pried his eyes open in annoyance and turned to Jack. “It’s too cold to sleep. You can sleep anywhere, crash for a while if you can. No point in both of us being awake.”

“Nope,” Jack protested, reaching up with glove-covered fingers to fumble with the zipper beneath his chin. “Brains before beauty, pal. C’mere.” He motioned for Mac to move closer. “Hurry up, you’re letting the cold in. Tuck in here, I gotcha.”

He knew he should have refused Jack’s offer, but he was so cold and the idea of sleep, even for a little while, was too tempting, so Mac scooted closer until his head was resting on Jack’s chest and his hands were stuffed into the inner layer of Jack’s coat. “You’re gonna get cold,” He mumbled against the scratchy fabric beneath his cheek as his mind attempted to calculate how much body heat his partner would be loosing through the unzipped protective outerwear.

“Nah, you’re keepin’ me just as warm as the coat was,” Jack lied as he wrapped an arm around Mac’s shoulders, attempting to fight off some of the shivers wracking the younger man’s frame, and peering over the top of his knit-hat covered head to check on their meager source of heat. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to keep them alive, he just hoped Mac wouldn’t need to steal parts from it in order to make the radio to connect with Matty and send out a mayday call. It was a worry he wasn’t going to voice until he had to though. “You Cali boys just aren’t made for this kind of climate.”

“Cause Texas is so much colder,” Mac rolled his eyes, barely awake enough to argue.

“Hey, we get some snow,” Jack protested with a grin, ignoring the way the cold made even his teeth ache. “Nothin’ like this, but it happens on occasion. When was the last time you saw a flurry in the City of Angels, huh? A real one, not somethin’ that belongs on a movie set.”

“Never,” Mac said around a yawn and Jack could feel the cold from where Mac’s nose pressed against his shirt. “Mission City got snow sometimes. Well, only one good one that I remember. Few months before Mom died.”

“Yeah?” Jack had been ready to cut the conversation off and let Mac fully drift off but it was a rare thing for him to mention his mother, and when he did it was usually the same safe, repeated stories. This was one he hadn’t heard before and curiosity got the best of him.

“They called a snow day,” Mac continued. “Only time I ever ‘member being excited to miss school. Went to the park, even though she probably didn’t feel like going, looking back on it.”

Jack wasn’t sure if the hand he had passing up and down Mac’s back could even be felt through all the layers separating them, but it didn’t stop him from trying, offering what little comfort he could.

“Everyone was in hats, not just her, so I could pretend she wasn’t sick for a little while. Ended up being one of the last good days we had.”

“I’m glad you got to have that time with her,” Jack fought to keep his emotions choked back, not that Mac was actually awake enough to notice. “And we can talk about her whenever you want, you know that, but right now you need to go to sleep, okay? She's up there somewhere worryin' that I'm not doing a good enough job of taking care of you and we can't have that."

"Kay," Mac mumbled sleepily, burying his face even deeper into Jack's chest. "How'r you so warm?"

"Guess I’ve got more insulation than you do." Jack teased, deciding not to mention that by attempting to wrap his coat as much around Mac as he could, it had pulled up and there was a strip along his backside that was practically pressed against the frozen ground without nearly enough layers to protect his skin from the cold. It didn't matter. His only priority was keeping Mac safe until help arrived. Everything else, including himself and his own health, was expendable.

**Author's Note:**

> Cause Jack's frostbitten ass was so hilarious... *infinite eyerolls*


End file.
